Victory
by ClothesBeam
Summary: Pride, pain, strength and a thirst for revenge… in that moment, it was all he had left.


**Victory**

The information processors of the Cold Empire were in trouble. They had only a day at best, before their Lord would snap and destroy them all in a blind rage. The ship needed a new reliable fuel source, and it needed it _now_. Not to mention, the rest of the empire's increasing need for energy supplies…

Adaka tapped the screen of her workspace irritably and nervously adjusted her headset again. The information gatherers just had to come up with something! If they didn't, her department would be destroyed by the enraged tyrant himself, even though destroying his main source of information would only make the problem worse.

Right now, she was data mining various mineral distribution trends in the vague hope of coming up with something. She had viewed the same information in so many different dimensions, but she just wasn't getting anywhere. If she got a chance to sleep again, surely she would dream about cubes and 'slicing and dicing'…

She sighed and opened her current project back up when she didn't get a response from the researchers, yet again. Obviously they couldn't find anything, so it was up to her to determine their fate, now. Adaka analysed the map she had been altering over the past few days, and noticed that a solar system just a few light-years away did, in fact, have an abundance of the materials required to make their fuel.

Yes, this was it! She excitedly began to drill deeper, not daring to get her hopes up, but feeling them inflate beyond her control nonetheless. Finally, she even had a selection of planets the other team members could investigate further. She sent the details to whichever poor soul was on reception duty for their illustrious leader.

Almost immediately a response flashed up on screen. _Get in the throne room NOW! Lord Frieza will freak on you if this isn't a solid lead._ It was hardly professional, but when tension was this high, no one particularly cared.

Adaka hastily removed her information division head set and secured the standard issue scouter over her face instead. She didn't even log out before shoving her chair out the way and tearing out of the room. Even though she wasn't a warrior, she was sure her sprint down the corridors would set some kind of record.

Outside the throne room was a group of Saiyans that looked as if they had recently been beaten up. The smallest of them glared up at her as if to question her audacity. It seemed she was interrupting them, but her team was more important than a few monkeys she barely knew.

Adaka bounded into the room and came to a sudden halt. She bowed for longer than usual in an attempt to get her breath back enough to speak clearly.

"Well," Frieza demanded impatiently, "do you have anything solid yet?"

"I-I'm sorry sir, I only just found the correlation. It's going to take my people some time to be absolutely certain-" But she was cut off by an unexpected yell of fury.

"In case the fact hasn't yet managed to penetrate that thick skull of yours, we don't have any time!" he continued to rage. "It is you maggots that will die without our support systems, but I do not wish to be subjected to the inconvenience of wandering through space until I am found!" The humiliation he would experience if the one to find him turned out to be his brother was not mentioned.

Adaka was about to respond, but then her team finally stumbled across the miracle they had been waiting for. Both of their scouters beeped to indicate they had received a message.

"Zarbon, put that up on screen immediately!" Frieza ordered shortly when he saw the message was a planet profile. It would be far easier to navigate and analyse on the big screen. Zarbon quickly faced the screen and touched the control panel a few times.

An image of a rotating, largely brown and yellow planet popped up on screen, accompanied by a text file detailing every property you could ever need to know. Adaka internally sighed with relief when she saw the location was exactly where she had predicted. The prevalent minerals were also just what they were looking for.

"Dodoria, set a course for this planet now!" The tyrant quickly fell back into the role of ordering his people about. Now that he had the required information, he was back in control again.

Dodria bowed briefly and hurried out of the room. He tapped his scouter so he could get in contact with the people on the bridge as soon as possible.

"You took your time, but these results are… excellent." He began. If she were talking to anyone else, Adaka might joke about him losing his cool. As it was, she stood stiffly, awaiting her next lot of orders. "Adaka is it?" he asked, inspecting the message. "From where did you join us?"

"Planet 159," she answered obediently. Her whole race had lived under his tyranny for decades.

Frieza seemed to think on this briefly, "That would be Ginyu's new recruit's home planet if I am not mistaken. It seems a lot of talent resides on that planet in both brawn and brains. Perhaps I should do my next lot of recruiting there." He mused.

"Perhaps," she replied and shifted uncomfortably. She had heard of Jeice, but only from the data processing she had done recently. Adaka fiddled with the sleeve of her technician's uniform as she waited to be dismissed.

Adaka jumped as Frieza raised his voice to its usual commanding tone. "Get those monkeys back in here!"

The Saiyans entered at Zarbon's direction, the younger one still glaring at her as if she had offended him personally. This made her nervous; her power level was already outstripped by a mere Saiyan child's. Back home this would have been insanely embarrassing, but she had proved herself in another way today.

"Now, now my Princeling, be civil with the lady. She has saved your sorry hides with the information she gathered today." His harsh words were contrasted by his pleasant tone. Vegeta looked away from her as Frieza continued, "I have chosen you three to either wipe this planet," he gestured at the screen, "of its inhabitants, or get their agreement to us mining the mud ball."

The warriors were already injured, so they would probably have to try negotiating. Adaka went through some extra information that had come through on her scouter silently. It was usually best not to interrupt the tyrant's good mood.

"It looks like the best way to do this is to convince their royalty to order the mining be done, but they are a very proud people…" Adaka put in, concentrating on scrolling through the information more than on the people around her.

"No one asked you!" Vegeta snapped.

Adaka was taken aback. She assumed the only reason she was still in the room was to help strategize. All people ever seemed to do was demand answers from her these days. "Well, sorry kid, it's my job to input my knowledge."

"I'm not a kid!" he answered in a voice that clearly indicated he was.

Adaka sighed and rolled her eyes. She just wanted to get out of the immediate danger and go back and celebrate with her team.

"It's true," he pressed, "if you knew anything, you'd be able to tell I just went through my fifteenth cycle, from my tail."

She desperately wished she would just be dismissed, but Frieza seemed to be rather amused by this back and forth. Adaka used her scouter to go through the ship's information on Saiyans. "I can use the information system to see you're also ridiculously small for your age. Given your defensive nature, it would be difficult to notice any significant difference in your tail when it's always kept wrapped around you like that."

She knew that making the diminutive Prince angry was not wise, but this seemed to be what the tyrant was looking for. Powerful as he was, the brat had nothing on his master. She knew whose good books she had to stay in.

"Alright, that's quite enough. Return to your post for your next assignment."

"Yes sir!" She said, sounding a little too relieved. She bowed and left before he could change his mind.

"Good luck, monkeys." He smiled insincerely as the warriors also prepared for their next mission.

* * *

Vegeta grit his teeth. How had he gotten so worked up over a few simple phrases? Lately, no matter how he tried to control his temper and reactions, he always ended up humiliating himself in front of that monster.

"Don't worry Vegeta; it's just puberty." Nappa put in unexpectedly. He was well in tune with his charge's thought process.

"Quiet Nappa," he muttered. "That doesn't justify my lack of control to anyone else."

Raditz patted his Prince's shoulder in a manner he obviously believed was consoling. "All you can do is train more… and procreate." He teased.

Vegeta growled his disapproval of this 'friendliness' as they entered the change room. Usually, in their state, they would spend some time in the healing tank before blasting off on another mission. But Frieza apparently wanted to make this as hard as he could on them, so they had to just change into new armour and bear it.

But Nappa still insisted on bandaging up the wound in his side. It was a little tender, but nothing debilitating. He said he was worried about infection, or the wound affecting his breathing. Vegeta rolled his eyes, but put up with the ministrations anyway.

A short time later, they were getting ready to enter their pods and take a relatively short trip to the mud ball. Vegeta was concerned that negotiating with this race would be beyond his skills. The technician woman had sent her information to his scouter, so he could see their culture didn't accommodate ideas such as slavery very well. If nothing had changed since the study had been done, then they would have to resort to the rather more difficult task of annihilating everyone.

He entered his pod and it took off almost immediately. Their flight would only be a few hours. The three Saiyans used that time to study up.

* * *

They were greeted by the scaly natives almost immediately upon landing. The average power level was only a few hundred, and their technology was quite basic. They weren't taking advantage of the properties of the precious minerals at all.

Fortunately they weren't quite backward enough to be unable to understand the common language. Their dialect was strange, but still understandable. Much to Vegeta's surprise, they were granted an audience with the Queen almost immediately.

The people were skilled when it came to constructing buildings, given the tasteful and functional architecture of their city, but their weaponry and strength were severely lacking. Their armour was made of nothing more than light cloth. The deserted, rocky land also made it difficult to grow food, so the population was relatively small.

After reaching what passed for a city here, they entered the royal building. The Saiyans were led into a cool, stone hallway. At the other end, a slight, yet extremely tall lizard person sat on a plush cushion. She seemed to have been expecting them, which indicated their communications were more advanced than he had given them credit for.

"Greetings," she nodded, rising to tower over even Nappa. "What is it you seek from us, travellers?"

Vegeta decided to just cut to the chase. "We need the minerals that are inside your planet."

The Queen regally brought the clawed tip of a long, delicate finger to her face, as if considering the implications of this statement. "And if we do not want you to force us into mining our planet until it is hollow?"

"It's simple; we will kill everyone here and mine the planet ourselves." Now, she would have to choose.

"Indeed it is. Then we shall have to fight to our last breath. We would rather be liberated by death than entrapped in the life of a slave." Suddenly, the display on Vegeta's scouter jumped straight from 1000 to 8000. Her power alone almost matched his. They would be fine as long as no one else could do that.

"Nappa, Raditz, start purging! I'll deal with this." He said, knowing they were both far too weak to even consider taking her on.

"Yes, Prince Vegeta," they sharply saluted in the Saiyan way before killing the men that made up their escort. They took off into the sky and began destroying the civilisation.

"Ah, you are also of royal blood? Then surely you can empathise with my plight." She smiled wryly as if this was too much to expect. "Who is holding the strings?"

Vegeta growled and clenched his fists. "When I'm strong enough, the bastard won't be able to hold them anymore!" He ground out as he gathered energy in his hands.

"Yet you live as a slave in the meantime? How can your pride take that? Or is it that you no longer have any?" She dashed forward with more speed than Vegeta expected, given her awkwardly gangly build.

He fired his blast in return, but she dodged it and scratched at his unarmoured legs. Vegeta pulled back at the last moment so she would not hit any major arteries, but she still left severe scratches. He winced as she bought one of her feet into his side, and a fist to his mouth.

Reflexively he cried out in pain, since she had struck him in the wound that Nappa had been so worried about. Luckily the armour softened the blow to prevent any organ ruptures or profuse bleeding. He felt a tooth come loose and a trickle of blood escape the corner of his mouth.

He tried to regain his bearings by flying into the air. When she stayed on the ground, he realised this race didn't know how to fly. Given her defensive stance, they didn't know about shooting Ki, either.

He laughed and a little insanity edged its way into his tone, "This will be all too easy! Any more wisdom to impart on me before you die?" He spat condescendingly.

"Yes, your cockiness is pathetic. You see, whether I live or die, it is my victory. Is morality not the most important thing to practice in this life?"

"Know your place woman, you can't beat us." Vegeta called, her words not holding much meaning for him. He had been following this path for the past ten years. He wasn't about to let someone tell him this meant he lacked pride and was a terrible leader.

"I know my place, and it is not at your feet." She answered calmly, unexpectedly leaping up high enough to tear up the inside of his left arm.

He swore, but didn't miss his opportunity to hit her when she couldn't control her fall back down. He blasted her with Ki again, this time causing severe damage. The Queen managed to land on her feet, but she faltered.

Vegeta grimaced and quickly took his opportunity. The blood loss and risk of disease would have to be ignored for now. He struck and broke the bone in the lower half of her right leg. He followed through with more precise, powerful blows, breaking her limbs and rendering her immobile.

Vegeta slammed his fists into her chest cavity. With the next blow, he would win. "You've lost, now you don't even have your life." He followed this short speech by spitting. The bloody dollop landed on the ground next to her face.

"Perhaps, however," she determinedly gasped out with her final breaths, "we have won." Her face relaxed into a victorious smile, even as her body was disintegrated by his final blast of Ki.

But Vegeta still didn't understand. He blankly watched his blood pour onto the ground as he thought about his life so far. Despite the gloating speech he had given just moments ago, he felt hollow and unfulfilled.

But how could he change now? He refused to believe he had wasted the last ten years of his life. But he had to fill the gap inside.

Pride, pain, strength and a thirst for revenge… in that moment, it was all he had left.


End file.
